Greinke says he has work to do after outing

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SURPRISE, Ariz. Zack Greinke faced a jury of his peers for the first time since March 1 and reached an easy verdict.

“A lot needs to be improved,” the Dodgers right-hander said after giving up five runs on six hits and walking the only three batters he faced in the fourth inning of an 8-2 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Monday night. “It tells me I've got some work to do. I need to build up some arm strength and fine tune my off-speed (pitches).”

It was the first time Greinke faced major league hitters since inflammation in his elbow (and a bout with the flu) forced him to skip three starts. He pitched in a minor league camp game last week, the first step toward getting ready for an anticipated season debut April 5 against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

“My fastball wasn't great and my off-speed was below OK,” Greinke said. “My changeup was good so there was one positive.

“But the main thing was my off-speed was so bad they didn't even have to worry about it. You can't really judge how good my fastball was because they didn't have anything else to worry about.”

Greinke didn't seem too worried about being ready for the start of the season. He threw 64 pitches Monday, though only 40 for strikes, and is scheduled to make one more start before opening day – Saturday in Anaheim against the Angels, where the pitch count will be stretched to approximately 75.

“If my arm strength is there, I can make it work,” Greinke said of being ready for April 5. “I should be (ready). I think so.”

PUIG POSSIBILITIES

With two days left before breaking camp and less than a week before rosters must be finalized, Manager Don Mattingly left the door open for spring phenom Yasiel Puig to make the jump from Class-A to the majors – at least to start the season.

“Puig is talked about in all different scenarios,” Mattingly said.

Asked if any of those scenarios involved him in a starting spot ahead of, say, veteran outfielder Carl Crawford, Mattingly reeled things back in – “Well, no, not those scenarios.”

Even that, though, is a significant change in Mattingly's stance since 12 days ago, when he said starting Puig in the majors was “not really in my mind' and “probably not the best thing for him.”

But the injury to Hanley Ramirez opened up a potential spot on the bench by moving a role player (Juan Uribe, Jerry Hairston Jr. or Nick Punto) into the starting lineup at third base. Mattingly gave indications he would like that extra player to be an outfielder – someone who could provide a better arm in left field than Crawford late in games and give added depth with Hairston likely to see more playing time in the infield than originally planned.

“Obviously he would fit that bill – but so would pretty much everyone else we have,” Mattingly said of Puig, going on to mention Elian Herrera, Alex Castellanos, Alfredo Amezaga, Skip Schumaker and Hairston.

NOTES

The agreement between MLB and the players' union reportedly provides for the salaries of any player injured during the World Baseball Classic to be paid by the WBC organization via insurance coverage if that player misses more than 30 days. Dodgers infielder Hanley Ramirez suffered a torn ligament in his right thumb during the WBC final and will be out approximately eight weeks. That could save the Dodgers approximately $3.8 million of his $15.5 million salary. … Right-hander Chad Billingsley threw curveballs during a bullpen session, testing his bruised index finger with the pitch for the first time in 10 days. He reported no discomfort and will pitch in a game situation again Thursday.

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